Backlash for Cantonese Protests

Less than a week after a seemingly peaceful protest in Guangzhou over the use of Cantonese on television appeared to signal China may be tolerating dissent on certain issues, state-run media quoted local officials as saying they had detained a man suspected of organizing the rally via the Internet.

Roughly 1,000 people took to the streets of Guangzhou last Sunday to protest a proposal to switch many local TV shows to Mandarin from Cantonese, the language most widely spoken in the region. Protesters argued then that the plan appeared to be an effort to phase out Cantonese in official settings in favor of Mandarin, the country's most widely spoken language.

Police have arrested at least one person in connection with the protest, the state-run China Daily reported, citing unnamed police officials. The man was detained after he “spread the rumor online to call people to attend a rally in support of Cantonese,” according to the newspaper. Police warned that further protests on the issue would be punished.

The backlash in Guangzhou come as people in Hong Kong are gearing up for a Cantonese-defense rally on Sunday. Agence France-Presse reported that protesters were organizing via Facebook.

“Sadly, the use of our mother tongue is now being attacked again, only that this time the perpetrator is our Chinese government,” said Choi Suk-fong, one of the protest organizers, according to AFP.

Organizers from both Hong Kong and Guangzhou apparently used the Internet to organize. Its power to spread information and organize people quickly is a key reason the Chinese government widely monitors and controls it.

The protesters' efforts do not appear to have been in vain: Guangzhou TV said it would refuse to change its current set-up of a mix of Cantonese and Mandarin programs, AFP said, citing local media. Nonetheless, the protests and subsequent crackdown raise questions about China's intent for Cantonese as well as well as how it will strike a delicate balance between quelling the protesters without appearing heavy-handed.